Machine eos



STA'IES FATEN'I GFFICE HORATIO N. IVAL'IER, OF NORIVICH, NEW' YORK'.

MACHINE FOR WASHING CLOTHES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 2,137, dated June 22, 1841.

10 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, H. N. VALTER, of Norwich, in the county of Chenango and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manner of Constructing la VVashing-h/Iachine for the Purpose of Vashing Clothes and other Articles Used in Domestic Economy; and `I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

In .my washing machine the clothes to be washed are placed upon a fiat board which lies horizontally within a trough, or cistern, containing the suds, or water, by which the cleansing is to be effected. Over this board, and upon the clothes laid upon it, a fluted roller is to be passed back and forth, which roller revolves in suitable head blocks, and is pressed down by the action of spiral springs, so as to enable it to yield to the inequality of thickness in the articles to be washed. The roller is covered on its upper side by a plate of sheet metal, which extends from one head block to the other, and with them constitutes a frame for containing the fluted roller. This luted roller frame is held down, as ittraverses back and forth, by guide pieces attached to the sides of the cistern, and which enter into grooves made on each end of the frame, to receive them.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l, is a perspective view of the machine; Fig. 2, an end View of the vibrating frame, containing the tinted roller, and Fig. 3, the wash board beneath the fluted roller, upon which the clothes are to be laid.

A, A, is the trough, or cistern, the end A', constituting a reservoir of sufhcient depth for rinsing and containing clothes not placed upon the wash board.

B, B, is the wash board, shown separately in Fig. 3. This board rests upon thebottom C, of the shallow portion of the cistern at the end A. It is represented as plain, but it may be tluted, if preferred, but this is not deemed necessary. It slides in between ledges a, a, which are rabbeted.

b, ZJ, are pins projecting from the sides of the wash board, and which are received into the rabbets; the forward pins serve to prevent the wash board from being raised up by the water, when it is drawn forward, until said pins are clear of the ledges o, a, when it may be raised and removed.

D, D, are head blocks, or ends of the frame which contains the fluted roller which is to bear upon the clothes.

E, is a plate of Zinc, or other metal, which 1s so formed as to make a cap, or covering, for the luted roller; wood, however, may be substituted, if preferred, for the metal plate E. The lower portion of the fluted roller is seen at F, Fig. 2; its gudgeons, one of which is shown in dotted lines at o, are received into the lower endsof two sliding rods (Z, which have metallic plates, or butv tons, e, at their upper ends, that receive the action of the spiral springs f, contained within the head blocks; the whole of this arrangement being represented by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The roller F, I make about five or six inches in diameter.

On the sides of the cistern there are ledges g, ,f/, to which grooves, 7L, it, on the head blocks are fitted; on the lower sides of the grooves 7i, 7L, I atlix friction rollers z', z', which bear against the lower sides of the ledges g, g, and enable the roller frame to traverse to and fro with facility, as it is borne up by the clothes over which it is passed.

G, is a handle by which the roller frame is to be actuated. The liuted roller thus combined, will readily yield either at one or both ends, so as to keep up an equal pressure upon the clothes, notwithstanding the unavoidable inequality in its quantity, or thickness.

The. manner of using this washing machine will be readily understood from the foregoing description of it; all that is necessary being to lay the articles to be washed as level as may be upon the wash board, to move the fluted roller apparatus backward and forward upon them with one hand, while with the other the clothes may be turned over, and regulated, as may be found necessary.

Having thus, fully described the nature of my improved washing machine and shown the manner in which the same operates, what I claim therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The manner in which I have constructed the fluted roller frame, and combined the same with the trough, or cistern, as herein set forth, that is to say, I claim the arranging of the liuted roller, so that its gudgeons shall be received in sliding rods which are acted upon by spiral springs, contained in two head blocks, which head blocks are con nected together by e cap, or covering7 Which incloses the fiuted roller7 the Whole being constructed substantially in the manner here- 5 in described.

2. I claim, also, the combining of the said luted roller frame with the cistern, by means of ledges attached to said cistern, and received Within grooves lon the head blocks, said grooves being furnished with friction rollers on their lower sides, and the roller frame being made to Work back and forth, horizontally, upon a horizontal Wash board7 for the purpose, and in the manner herein set forth.

H. N. WALTER. Vitnesses JAMES M. D. CARR, N. C. CHAPMAN, 

